


Pictures at an Exhibition

by silversilky



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Bandori Rarepair Week 2020, Double Dating, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Romance, and the tiger poster!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversilky/pseuds/silversilky
Summary: It was Himari's idea--a double date to the zoo together--and despite some initial trepidation Chisato's starting to warm up to it. But now Moca's acting weird, and she's gonna have to get to the bottom of it before her girlfriend (?) does something stupid.
Relationships: Aoba Moca/Shirasagi Chisato, Udagawa Tomoe/Uehara Himari
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	Pictures at an Exhibition

**Author's Note:**

> Rarepair Week day 4: Competition

Chisato has never seen the inside of a hippopotamus's mouth in person before, nor did she ever really expect to, but she supposes that there's a first time for everything.

  
Her girlfriend (?) beside her sighs dreamily as she stares down into the enclosure. Moca looks entirely enraptured by the sight of the beast's gaping maw, and Chisato discovers the reason for that sense of admiration as soon as Moca casually opens her own mouth. "Hmmm, you know, I wish I had a mouth that big."

  
"...And why on earth would you want that?" Chisato asks indulgently.

  
Moca looks at her with a signature dopey grin. "Well, if I did, I could fit way more bread in every bite. You've gotta imagine the texture changes with the quantity, right? More layers of crunch to be bitten through with my mighty jaws. Ah, undiscovered sensations of bread... truly, I was born to explore this, the final frontier." She leans wearily on the worn plexiglass covering that displays some hippo facts. "But it's not to be. Curse this human biology of mine~."

  
Chisato moves to stand behind her where she leans and mutters, "I quite like your human biology, though. What a shame you can't appreciate it as I do." She can practically see Moca's shoulders tense up and has to suppress the urge to let the corners of her mouth twitch up. Getting a rise out of her is easy, even if this particular line of teasing would have her tarred and feathered by her managers. Thankfully, they're absent today.

  
The same can't be said for Moca's managers, however.

  
"Tomoe, Tomoe! I can't see, can you help me up?" Himari pleads, tugging on the ends of her girlfriend's short sleeves with gusto. They're going to tear if she keeps at it... but Tomoe doesn't keep her waiting.

  
Squatting down, Tomoe reaches around and roughly pats her shoulders. "C'mon, get on up here, babe! All aboard the Udagawa Express!" Himari squeals excitedly before running around and hopping up on the other girl's back, stretching her legs around for Tomoe to grab onto and hold her steady as she rises up. Himari stares at the hippo enclosure with stars in her eyes. "Got a good view now, babe?"

  
"Babe, babe, babeeeee!" Himari replies, and Chisato feels her eyebrow twitch. That's about--what, the ninetieth 'babe' thrown back and forth between the two? Every one seemed to have its own meaning. Chisato almost wishes she had a codebreaker to consult, but Moca will have to do. She casts a very specific gaze over to Moca and she seems to understand.

  
"Mmm, that's just a normal excited 'babe.' A little 'whoa, hippos!' mixed with a side of 'thank you, Tomoe!' Pretty standard I think." Moca nods decisively.

  
Himari glares from her butch perch. "Moca! Are you interpreting again? I said that was embarrassing!"

  
"See," Moca says to Chisato while avoiding Himari's eyes, "that one actually means 'I love you, Moca, you're my bestest friend in the whole world!' It's a little difficult to parse but don't worry, I'm a fully certified Hii-chan translator." 

  
"You are not!" Himari yells, and slaps a hand down on the closest surface angrily. The surface in question is Tomoe's head. "Ahh, babe! Sorry!"

  
"I'm good, babe," Tomoe says with a wince.

  
Today was Himari's idea, and initially Chisato was quite wary of it. A double date to the zoo--she hadn't done anything as public as that with Moca yet, and their relationship was still a bit... ill-defined. But the more she thought about it the more her instinct to resist began to slip. It was a good chance to see what Moca saw in her childhood friends and how she acted with them as opposed to her usual demeanor around Chisato. When it came to Moca Aoba, Chisato wouldn't turn down a peek behind the curtain.

  
And that's what led her here, staring through thick glass at an eel as it wriggles its way through an artificial ocean floor. One of the signs told her its exact name and all sorts of other fun facts, but she's forgotten them all. An eel is an eel, isn't it?

  
On the other side of the tank she can see Himari and Tomoe's murky distorted faces. They both look like they're having the time of their lives, trading stealthy loving glances at each other whenever the other is engaged in eel-watching. It's sickeningly sweet. The way they show their affection is always so bold, so loud. If Chisato was a little less self-aware she might be jealous of that.

  
"Uwaaah, look at it undulate," Moca says through her apparent trance. "Neat."

  
"I suppose so." But Chisato's not watching the eel anymore, she's gotten her fill of it. Instead she turns her eyes to the girl beside her as casually as possible. The way Moca's eyes are locked on the creature, moving lazily to follow it... she's like a cat confronted with a dangling string. It's cute. When Chisato feels herself start to smile she flicks her gaze back to the tank.

  
And her eyes widen a bit when she feels a light, tentative contact against her hand. "Moca...?" By the time Chisato has turned to look at her, Moca has quickly slipped her own hand away and created a bit of space between them.

  
"..."

  
"...Moca, if you--"

  
"Whoa! They've got bigass crabs over that way," Moca interrupts. She waves through the glass to Himari and Tomoe, jerking a thumb in the direction she wants the group to go in. Then she looks back at Chisato with a lazy smile. "Let's go, don't wanna keep the crustaceans a-waitin'." Before a response can come she's already moving.

  
The crabs are... well, more or less what Chisato expected. So are the jellyfish, the little squids, and the schools of silver fish. She watches Moca watch each one intently. She doesn't make another move towards Chisato again.

  
As soon as they exit the aquarium area Tomoe spots a sign and stops in her tracks. From the excitement showing in her stance she clearly very badly wants to check out--what is that?--the tiger exhibit. But as Chisato watches, Tomoe's face goes through several stages, from excitement to trepidation to tired acceptance. Why's she holding herself back for something so simple? Chisato's shoulders relax a bit as she wonders if she has something in common with the beefy redhead after all.

  
Thankfully, Himari seems to spot the same signs Chisato does in her partner. "Hey! Let's head over and see the tigers, huh?" she says enthusiastically. "Come on, Tomoe!"

  
"Oho, Hii-chan's fired up!" Moca says with a grin.

  
"Of course I am! Who wouldn't wanna see Tomoe among her fellow tigers?" Himari says with an easy innocence that makes Tomoe choke as a flush spreads across her face.

  
"H-Himari!?"

  
"What's up, babe?" Himari says as she bats her eyelashes. Chisato can almost appreciate the quality of Himari's performance if she manages to stop her stomach from turning.

  
Tomoe jerks her head away with a stiff motion. "Nothing." Her elbow extends just the slightest bit--an invitation that Himari has received countless times before, from the immediate response she gives. Himari wraps her own arms around Tomoe's bicep and leans up against her side romantically as they walk. It's... it's sweet, if a bit excessive.

  
Chisato turns to look for Moca and finds Moca is already looking for her. She notices the way the other girl's elbow twitches and moves out just a bit. It's subtle. Could have even been an accident. But the way Moca quickly avoids her gaze tells a different story, and Chisato's eyes narrow.

  
"Moca," she says just under her breath so their companions don't overhear, "if you'd like for me to wrap around your arm like a lovestruck waif, you'll be waiting quite a while. I'd advise flipping the situation around and taking the role yourself. That version of events is far easier to imagine." Moca doesn't respond but from the way she stumbles a bit on the flat concrete path Chisato can tell she heard her just fine.

  
The tiger exhibit is one of the larger areas so far, a wide expanse separated by a wall and a sunken sort of dry moat. There are four of them according to the sign but only two are visible, sunning themselves by some rocks like overgrown house cats. The others must be inside resting.

  
Tomoe zooms ahead of them as soon as the tigers are in sight, abandoning any attempt to hide her excitement. She grabs the edge of the railing and stares at the beasts with a grin. "Ahhh, they're so cool!" She looks back at Himari with a fire in her eyes. "They were always my favorites as a kid! You remember--back in the day before I switched rooms with Ako, you remember the poster I had?"

  
"The tiger poster!" Himari exclaims as she clasps her hands together. "Aww, I almost forgot... we hung out there so often, I remember it really well!"

  
"Tomo-chin's famous tiger poster... " Moca says, leaning her head back. "A true icon of the proto-Afterglow days. You two were always cuddling underneath it, weren't you? They say the tiger is the official animal of love, after all."

  
"Moca!" Himari and Tomoe cry in unison before blinking at each other. Tomoe nods, giving Himari the right of way. She pouts and stomps her foot. "Nobody says that about tigers! And we absolutely did not!" All she gets in return from Moca is a half-assed shrug, which only stokes the flames of her indignation. Tomoe pats her on the shoulder to calm her down.

  
Chisato can't help but feel a bit left out, but all the same it's nice seeing Moca reminisce with her friends. It's good to know she has simple, pleasant memories like that.

  
Moca's gaze turns to Chisato as Himari continues to wave her fists. "Ehehe, me and Chisato don't have our own tiger poster, but..." Moca's tone starts to shift as she continues, growing thinner and higher, like she's forcing it. She's not meeting Chisato's eyes. "...we do, heh, cuddle plenty--"

  
"What a bold thing to say so plainly," Chisato says, immediately stopping Moca in her tracks. Moca shrinks a bit under her gaze. She can tell she's gone too far. "Moca, may I speak to you privately?"

  
Moca gulps. She nods.

  
Himari and Tomoe look taken aback by Moca's demeanor shift to that of a kicked puppy. Chisato reminds herself that though she's seen that side plenty, Moca's friends almost certainly have not. She's going to have to be a bit more careful in the future to not push the other girl too far in mixed company. No need to embarrass her without cause. But she certainly deserved it this time.

  
The two leave their friends behind with the tigers, Moca trailing Chisato as she walks to an out-of-the-way area near the restrooms. As they make it around the small building, Chisato turns to fix Moca with a flat smile.

  
"What was that?"

  
"Ah... just a little Moca joke, it's--"

  
"You misunderstand." Chisato puts a hand on Moca's shoulder and pushes her against the wall while holding eye contact. She doesn't have to push very hard. Moca's surprisingly obedient when it comes to things like this. "You've been acting strangely all day. At first I thought you were just hungry for a little affection--" Moca's gaze avoids hers. "--and perhaps you are, but it's not just that, is it? _Performative_ affection is what you're after like a dog on a bone. Tell me why."

  
"...competition," Moca says quietly enough that Chisato can only pick up the last word. Chisato doesn't have to ask her to repeat herself, she just cocks an eyebrow and Moca understands. "Hii-chan... made today a competition to see which couple could be more... lovey-dovey, she said, I believe that's the technical term..."

  
"And why on earth have you been attempting to indulge in this?" Chisato purrs in reply, genuinely a little confused. Moca was rarely the PDA type, and Chisato certainly wasn't. In private, they'd show their love, but for the most part it was in little things. And that was enough, wasn't it?

  
...Or was that not enough for Moca anymore?

  
Her face must be as clouded as her thoughts. Moca's too embarrassed to see it, though. Her gaze burns a hole in the ground instead. "...Wasn't gonna, but she kept going on about proving she and Tomoe loved each other more than anybody and..." The truth is too much to fully spit out, it's struggling in Moca's throat. But Chisato thinks she understands now. As much as Moca likes to make people think she doesn't care about anything Chisato knows better than that.

  
"Moca..." she says softly but firmly. "Look at me."

  
And Moca does look up to reveal a rare redness on her face. There's a heat accompanying it, Chisato notices that when she leans in close and watches Moca's brilliant blue eyes widen before fluttering closed. Her lips brush against Moca's warm cheek for the slightest second before she leans back. "You're an idiot, Moca Aoba."

  
Moca's eyes open again and she stares, then lets a goofy smile fall into place. "Mm, I don't mind being the biggest idiot in the world if it means pretty girls give ol' Moca a smooch from time to time~."

  
"I wouldn't push it."

  
"Understood~."

* * *

"Moca! I can't believe you!" Himari yells as she shakes Moca by the shoulders with every bit of strength she possesses, which is more than what you'd expect.

  
Moca lets herself flop around bonelessly in her friend's grasp, lazily wondering what she possibly did to earn this sort of treatment. A Hii-chan shaking should be against the Geneva conventions. Chisato and Tomoe aren't even around to save her, they've both just left separately. Himari and Moca are walking together to take the same train home. Or they were, before Himari pulled her over and started shouting.

  
"Hii-cha-a-a-an," she tries to say in a weak protest, "you're gonna brea-a-a-ak my spi-i-i-i-ine if you keep shaking poor Mo-o-o-o-oca like thi-i-i-i-is."

  
"That's the problem!" Himari growls. "You've got too much of a spine!"

  
"HiiiIIIIiiiIIIIiii-cha-a-a-a-an, wha-a-a-a-at did yo-o-our ve-e-e-ery best frie-e-e-end Mo-o-o-o-oca-a-a do-o-o-o-o-o?"

  
"You cheated!" Himari finally stops shaking her in order to put her hands on her lips indignantly. "Sneaking away to canoodle around with Chisato in private while me and Tomoe stand there like doofuses! I'm declaring the Best GF Competition moot and invalid!" She huffs and points at Moca's cheek furiously. "Going around with that on your face, it's not fair at all!"

  
Moca blinks. She takes out her phone and opens the camera, tilting it to get a view of her face. As she does, her eyes widen. Chisato... left a significant lipstick mark behind on her cheek after their moment together earlier. And of course she didn't say a word about it. "..." Moca lets several wildly conflicting emotions pass silently.

  
And then she spins it, shit-eating grin spreading unbound. "Heh, Hii-chan, I guess you're just a little jealous of me and Chisato's high lovey-dovey level, hmm? Maybe I can give you some advice to make Tomoe a little bolder."

  
"Moca!" Himari wails indignantly. Moca only grins wider.

  
She looks back at her phone and quickly searches for the contact named 'Scary Girl, Moca Like.' Then sends off a quick text to her with a photo attached. A blurry picture of her face. The text is simple, just a lonely question mark. 

  
_?_

  
She doesn't need to wait long for the reply.

  
_Was that a bit too much? I apologize. Given your eagerness to show off our closeness, I simply decided it might be nice after all to let them know just who Moca Aoba belongs to for once._

  
"Moca? Heyyy, Moca? Why'd you stop? Your face looks all weird." Himari waves a hand in front of her face slowly. "Mooooooca. Moca, we're gonna miss the train! Hey!"

  
"..."

  
Moca doesn't wash her face off until late that night.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i've got another oneshot coming on day 7. comments are appreciated and you can also hit me up on twitter @tractioncities!


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